Truckers Drive On

Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
Drive-By Truckers
(New West)

Though Drive-By Truckers have changed lineups several times through 10 years and eight albums, the departure of singer/guitarist Jason Isbell in 2007 seemed like a certain setback for the band. Although they had been perfectly good before he joined up for the “Southern Rock Opera” tour in 2001, Isbell made an immediate impact as the third guitarist and the writer of some of the group’s best songs. The party line is an amicable split caused by divergent interests, and maybe that is the true story. In any event, Isbell and Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker are now divorced and Isbell is a solo artist.

Now the good news: Drive-By Truckers haven’t slipped a bit. Their new disc, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,” shows that in some ways they’ve become a better band by subtraction.

Of course, it’s not really because of what was taken away. Isbell was a fine songwriter and guitarist. He still is, judging by last year’s excellent solo debut, “Sirens of the Ditch.” In the wake of his departure, though, Drive-By Truckers became more sonically textured. John Neff, an original member of the band who has been a frequent touring sidekick over the years, rejoined full-time on guitar and pedal steel. Neff brings a different feel to the three-guitar lineup. There’s a little less Skynyrd-inspired Southern rock, and a bit more of the country vibe that the band featured in its early years. Bringing Neff into the fold is notable enough, but Drive-By Truckers also benefit from the presence of friend and Muscle Shoals ace Spooner Oldham, who sits in on organ. As he has done on numerous albums in his outstanding career, Oldham sits back in the pocket and provides the glue that holds this tight set together.

Though DBT lost a songwriter, they also gained one in Tucker, who contributes “I’m Sorry Huston,” “Home Field Advantage” and “The Purgatory Line” to this disc. She’s been a rock-solid bassist since joining the band in 2004, but her voice, previously only heard on harmonies, adds a pleasing extra dimension. She’s not polished, but Tucker has plenty of soul. Her three songs, which are about brooding and broken hearts, aren’t as good as Isbell’s typically were, but they’re still plenty good. Indeed, “The Purgatory Line” is one of the highlights of “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,” and it serves to drive home the diversity of Drive-By Truckers’ reformulated lineup.

And let’s not forget the mainstays. Singer/guitarists Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have been together in this band for more than a decade. They’ve grown as writers and players, and really seem to have stepped up the challenge of filling the hole left by Isbell. Cooley is as usual the more melodious songwriter, while Hood tends toward a cinematic style. Between their complementary talents and the changes to the band, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” is well-paced and manages to keep from sounding overly long at 19 tracks and 75 minutes.

Among Hood’s highlights are “The Righteous Path,” a rocker about a regular Joe trying to walk the line; “The Opening Act,” a half-spoken, half-sung story-song that might well be an autobiographical look back at the days of playing in dirt-floor dives; the soul-searching “Monument Valley”; and two songs about the Iraq war: “That Man I Shot” and “The Home Front.” “The Home Front,” about a wife at home with her small child while her husband is off at war, is made all the more mournful by Neff’s pedal steel and Oldham’s base of Hammond B-3. “That Man I Shot” introduces the human element of the war through an American soldier who kills an enemy combatant and then wonders why. Whatever the reasons, the soldier can’t forget the incident. The song is arranged in classic DBT style with a big, Southern rock sound, and the three-guitar attack is as relentless as this serviceman’s living nightmare.

Cooley specializes in writing about hard-luck losers. He’d probably have a promising career as a tough-guy novelist in the mold of Elmore Leonard if he wasn’t such an accomplished songwriter. “Checkout Time in Vegas,” from which the title of this album is taken, begins with the line, “A bloody nose, empty pockets, a rented car with a trunk full of guns.” Whoever this guys is, he’s sure gonna get Shorty, and you can bet it won’t be pretty. Other standout tracks among the seven written by Cooley are the gritty “3 Dimes Down”; “Self Destructive Zones,” which gives a brief cultural history of the 1990s; and “Happy Birthday Lisa,” a country song that sounds like it was passed through the Rolling Stones filter. Poor Lisa is on the phone again, and “She’s got no money for a cab, she’s way too drunk to walk.”

Perhaps Cooley’s strongest contribution, and possibly the best song on the album, is “Perfect Timing,” a loping acoustic cut in which an itinerant musician grows comfortable in his own skin. In a way, the song is a metaphor for this band. “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” shows the shuffled Drive-By Truckers in an extremely positive light – older, wiser and rolling with the changes.